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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



God's Seventh Day Rest; 



TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD; 



m SEVENTH DAY SABBATH 



ENJOINED ON ISBAEL; 



— AND — 



i^ 



BY ALFRED EARLE, M. D. 

PHILADELPHIA, PA. 




\Mk.:Jrhj\ 



PHILADELPHIA : ^^. 

SELDEN & BRO., PRINTER^3 
JNo. 15 North Mnth Street. 

-18 8 1.- 



7h 






Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1881,- by 

ALFRED EARLE, M. D., 
In the OfQ.ce of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 




a^FM®gK^c53 




HIS little book is not designed to be an 
exhaustive disquisition of the topics on 
which it treats ; but merely a compen- 
dium of the author\s views, with a few 
of the leading arguments in their support. The 
importance of the subject demands its investigation ; 
as it involves the question of the legal, or spiritual, 
nature of the dispensation under which we live. The 
Sabbath belonged to the ministration of condemnation 
and death ; the Lord^s Day is under that of the spirit 
and of righteousness. The latter has none of the 
properties peculiar to the former. We might with 
as much propriety assume, that the fourth day of the 
month July, kept by the people of the United States 
as our national birthday, came in the room of the 
seventh day of the month Thargelion, observed at 
Athens in commemoration of the birth of Apollo, as 



IV PROEM. 

to assert, that the first day of the week, or Lord's Day, 
is to be hallowed as a substitute for the seventh day 
Sabbath of the Jews. To show that they are distinct 
institutions; the Sabbath a divine requirement under 
the law, the Lord's Day a voluntary observance under 
the gospel ; is the chief object of the following pages. 

In the preparation of this work, we have aimed at 
brevity and perspicuity ; in the hope of securing its 
perusal by a much larger number of readers, than 
would have been the case, had we furnished an elab- 
orate production. But notwithstanding its concise- 
ness, we think our proofs are ample, and our posi- 
tions impregnable. 

We earnestly desire and pray, that the church may 
speedily divest herself of every shred of Judaism 
and Romanism, that may attach to her ; that she may 
awake and put on her beautiful garments (Is. lii. 1.); 
and that she may look forth as the morning, fair as 
the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army 
with banners. Cant. vi. 10. 



OI[DER OF TOPICS. 



1st.— God's Seventh Day Rest, 7 

2d.— The Sabbath Rest to the People of God, 11 

3d.— No Sabbath During the Patriarchal Ages, 21 

4th.— Origin of the Sabbath, 29 

5th.— The Sabbath Enjoined on Israel Only, 83 

6th.— The Sinaic Covenant made with Israel, S9 

7th.— The Sabbath Commemorative of the Deliverance of 

Israel from Egyptian Bondage,. 43 

8th.— The Sabbath a Sign, 47 

9th.— The Sabbath a Rest, 49 

10th.— The Penalty for Sabbath Breaking, 55 

11th.— Typical Significance of God's Seventh Day Rest and 

the Seventh Day Sabbath, 57 

12th.— Abrogation of the Old Covenant 67 

13th.— The Lord's Day 79 

14th.— Concordance, 97 



God's Seventh Day Rest. 



— *-j^^ri^^2*r>«.-« 



/^OD'S seventh day rest is recorded in these words : 
^^ And on the seventh day, God ended his work 
which he made ; and he rested on the seventh day 
from all his work which he made. And God blessed 
the seventh day, and hallowed it ; because on it he 
rested from all his work, which God created in mak- 
ing it/'— Gen. ii. 2, 3. 

The text announces, that 

1st. — On the seventh day, God ended his work 
which he made. 

2d. — God rested on the seventh day from all his 
work which he made ; and 

3d. — Because on it he rested from all his work, 
which God created in making it, he blessed the sev- 
enth day and hallowed it. 



8 GOB^S SEVENTH DAY EEST. 

It was Jehovah alone^ who in the first six days 
made heaven and earthy the sea^ and all that were in 
them ; and it was he alone who rested on the seventh 
day from all his work^ which he created in making 
it (Ex. XX. 11); not man, nor any other creatures. It 
was not a rest of inactivity, but a cessation from all 
his work which he made on the previous six days. 
His resting does not imply passivity, for there is noth- 
ing passive in his nature ; nor that he ceased to act, 
for as he is actus simpUcissimus, he cannot cease to be 
active. Jesus says : " My Father works hitherto, 
and I work.'^ — John v. 17. Nor can he act without 
a design; nor entertain a purpose without a reason. 
The only reason here stated for his blessing and hal- 
lowing the first seventh day, is, because on it he rested 
from all his work, which he created in making it. 

God blessed and hallowed the first seventh day ; 
not every succeeding seventh day. He blessed it; 
made it a day of happiness to all sentient existences ; 
a joyous day to the myriads of holy angels, who ex- 
ulted over the sublime architecture that had been 
produced out of nothing ; a blissful day to the first 
Adam, made in the image of his Creator, instated in 



god's seventh day hest. 9 

Eden, invested with the subordinate ownership and 
supremacy of the new-born world, and dominion 
over the lower animals ; and to Eve his companion 
and helper ; and a day of harmless pleasure to the 
countless varieties of living creatures that inhabited 
the earth, the air, and the waters. He hallowed it ; 
set it apart from the previous six days, and all others 
in the future ; as the day that completed the creation 
v/eek, and on which sin was unknown in the universe 
of Jehovah God. The attributes of Deity, radiating 
from the divine centre, illumined the whole realm of 
nature, every object reflecting the glory of its infinite 
author. 

The first seventh day, thus blessed and hallowed, 
although segregated from all other days, was both 
proleptical and typical. 

It was proleptical of the seventh day Sabbath, to 
be imposed upon Israel after the lapse of about 
twenty-five centuries ; and incorporated in the Sinaic 
covenant, to be made with that nation. This is evi- 
dent from the language employed by Moses in the 
enunciation of the fourth section of the Decalogue : 

"Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy. 



10 GOD^S SEVENTH DAT REST. 

Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work. But 
the seventh day is the Sabbath of Jehovah thy God ; 
in it thou shalt not do any work ; thou, nor thy son, 
nor thy daughter ; thy man-servant, nor thy maid- 
servant ; nor thy cattle ; nor thy stranger that is 
within thy gates. For in six days Jehovah made 
heaven and earth, the sea, and all that are in them, 
and rested the seventh day; wherefore Jehovah blessed 
the Sabbath Day, and hallowed it.^^ — Ex. xx. 8-11. 
Compare Ex. xxxi. 17. 



The Sabbath Rest 

TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD. 



God's seventh day rest was typical of the gospel 
day^ and the rest into which comers to Christ enter 
when they believe on him ; as is clearly set forth in 
the letter to the Hebrews. The sacred writer, re- 
ferring to Ps. xcv. 8-1 1.5 says : 

'^ Wherefore, as the Holy Spirit says : 

To-day, if ye will hear his voice, 

Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, 

In the day of the temptation in the wilderness ; 

Where your fathers tempted me, 

Proved me, and saw my works, forty years. 

Wherefore, I was offended with that generation ; 

And I said : They always go astray in their heart, 

And they knew not my ways; 

As I swore in my wrath, 

Tliey shall not enter into my rest."— Heb. iii. 7-11. 

We turn to the Psalm, and read : 

*' To-day, if ye will hearken to his voice ! 
Harden not your heart, as at Meribah, 



12 , THE SABBATH REST, 

As in the day of Massab, in the wilderness. 
Where your fathers tempted me, 
They tried me, also saw my work. 

Forty years did I loathe the generation ; 
And I said : They are a people that err in heart, 
And they know not my ways ; 
Wherefore I have sworn in my wrath, 
They shall not enter into my rest/'— Ps. xcv. 8-11. 

Before we trace the line of argument instituted in 
the letter to the Hebrews^ we notice^ that Jehovah 
had promised the Israelites a rest in the land of 
Canaan. We read : 

" For ye are not as yet come to the rest, and to the 
inheritance, which Jehovah your God gives you. 
But when ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land 
which Jehovah your God gives you to inherit, and 
when he gives you rest from all your enemies round 
about, so that ye dwell in safety/^ — Deut. xii. 9, 10. 

So David says : 

^^ Jehovah God of Israel has given rest to his 
people, that they may dwell in Jerusalem forever.'' — 
1 Chron. xxiii. 25. Compare xxii. 7-10. 

After citing a portion of Ps. xcv., as ^stated above, 
the sacred penman continues : 



THE SABBATH REST. 13 

^^ Take heed, brethren, lest there shall be in any 
one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing 
from the living God. But exhoit one another daily, 
as long as it is called To-day, that no one of you may 
be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For 
we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast 
the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end. 
When it is said : To-day, if ye will hear his voice, 
harden not your hearts as in the provocation ; who then, 
when they had heard, provoked? Nay, was it not 
all who came forth out of Egypt by Moses? But 
with whom was he offended forty years ? Was it not 
with those who sinned ? whose carcasses fell in the 
wilderness. And to whom did he swear, that they 
should not enter into his rest, but to those who be- 
lieved not ? And we see that they were not able to 
enter in, because of unbelief.^^ — Heb. iii. 12—19. 

The fathers spoken of by the Psalmist failed to 
enter into the rest of Canaan, for their carcasses fell 
in the wilderness ; and also through unbelief to enter 
into God's rest. When the ninety-fifth Psalm was 
composed, the Israelites were in Canaan, and observ- 
ing the rest of the seventh day Sabbath. A different 



14 THE SABBATH REST. 

rest IS therefore referred to in the Psahn^ which God 
calls " My rest/^ The apostle, having shown the 
fearful consequences of unbelief on the part of those 
who were overthrown in the wilderness, uses the cir- 
cumstances to enforce his exhortation to the Hebrews. 

He continues : 

'' Let us fear therefore, lest, a promise being still 
left us of entermg into his rest, any one of you should 
seem to have come short of it. For to us were the 
glad tidings preached, as also to them ; but the word 
which they heard did not profit them, not being 
mingled with faith in those who heard. For we who 
believed enter into the rest, as he said : As I swore in 
my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest, although 
the works were finished from the foundation of the 
world. For he has spoken in a certain place of the 
seventh day thus : And God rested on the seventh 
day from all his works ; and in this again : They 
shall not enter into my rest. 

Since then it remains that some do enter into it, 
and they to whom the glad tidings were first preached 
entered not in because of unbelief, again he limits a 



THE SABBATH BEST. 15 

certain day, To-day, (saying in David, after so long a 
time, as has before been said,) 

Today, if ye will hear his voice, 
Harden not your hearts. 

For if Joshua had given them rest, he woukl not, 
after this, have spoken of another day. 

So then, there remains a Sabbath-rest to the people 
of God. For he that entered into his rest, himself 
rested from his works, as God did from his own. Let 
us therefore endeavor to enter into that rest, that no 
one may fall into the same example of unbelief.^' — 
Heb. iv. 1-11. 

From the Scripture quoted, it appears that the 
promised rest to believers was the same under the 
Mosaic economy as now. The same glad tidings were 
then made known to the fathers, as are now preached 
to us. Faith in the message was as necessary then, 
as at the present time. The works essential to salva- 
tion, the basis of faith in all ages, being finished from 
the foundation of the world ; those who rejected the 
glad tidings under a former dispensation, could not 
enter into the rest of faith, as is the case in these latter 



10 THE SABBATH EEST. 

days. The apostle calls attention to the facts^ that in 
one place it is said : ^^ And God rested on the seventh 
day from all hm works ;'^ and in another: ^^ They 
shall not enter into my rest^^ ; thus plainly indicating- 
the type and antitype. He then declares, that some 
do enter into it ; but they to whom the glad tidings 
were first preached entered not in because of unbelief; 
and that after so long a time^, a period of about five 
centuries, he limits a certain day, saying in David : 

•* To-day, if ye will hear his voice. 
Harden not your hearts." 

He connects the affair with the present dispensa- 
tion. He warns the Hebrew brethren, lest there 
should be in any one of them an evil heart of unbe- 
lief; and to exhort one another daily, as long as it is 
called ^^ To-day,^^ evidently meaning the gospel day. 
As Jesus Christ is the Sun of Righteousness (Mai. 
iv. 2.), the Dayspring from on high (Luke i. 78), we 
can not dissociate him from the day itself. Hence 
we read: 

" The Stone which the builders rejected 
Has become the Head of the corner. 
This is from Jehovah ; 
It is wonderful in our eyes. 



THE SABBATH REST. 17 

This is the day Jehovah has made; 

We will exult and be glad in it."— Ps, cxviii. 22-24. 

Again^ we read: 

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to 
them : " Rulers of the people, and elders of Israel ; if 
we are this day examined in respect to a good deed 
done to an impotent man, by what means this person 
has been made whole; be it known to you all, and to 
all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus 
Christ the Nazarene, whom ye crucified, whom God 
raised from the dead, by him does this man stand 
here before you whole. He is the Stone that was set 
at naught by you the builders, which is become the 
Head of the corner. And there is salvation in no 
other; for neither is there any other name under 
heaven, that is given among men, in which we must 
be saved.^^ — Acts iv. 8-12. 

On this day God^s heralds of mercy are commis- 
sioned to cry in the ears of a perishing world : 

*' To-day, if ye will hear his voice, 
Harden not your hearts." 

The darkness of unbelief shuts out the light of 



18 THE SABBATH KEST. 

spiritual day ; but the eye of faith beholding the Sun 
of Righteousness, we rest from our works, as God did 
from his own ; entering into the rest of justification 
by faith in the Righteousness of God. '^ For we have 
become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the begin- 
ning of our confidence firm unto the end/' 

Our apostle arrives at the conclusion : " So then, 
there remains a Sabbath-rest to the people of God '^ ; 
and exhorts the Hebrew brethren to endeavor to enter 
into that rest, that no one may fall into the same ex- 
ample of unbelief. He explains the matter by say- 
ing : " For he that entered into his (God's) rest, 
himself rested from his works, as God did from his 
own.'' This suits neither the Arminian, nor the An- 
tinomian ; for while the believing sinner rests from 
his works, as a meritorious- cause of his salvation, 
like the typical rest of Jehovah, it is one of activity. 
The rest of faith is one of ceaseless and delightful 
service. ^^ Therefore are they before the throne of 
God, and they serve him day and night in his tem- 
ple." — Rev. vii. 15. Jesus says: ^^ Come unto me, 
all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give 
you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from 



I 



THE SABBATH REST. 19 

me ; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall 
find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and 
my burden light.''— Matt. xi. 28-30. 

The gospel dispensation is the day of rest from the 
bondage of the law, its burdensome rites and ceremo- 
nies. The yesterday of the law, given through Moses, 
is superseded by the " To-day '' of grace and truth, 
which came through Jesus Christ. — John i. 17. It 
is prophesied : " And in that day there shall be a 
root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the 
people ; to it shall the Gentiles seek ; and his rest 
shall be glorious.'' — Is. xi. 10. 

The gospel day, commencing with the termination 
of the legal dispensation, will continue until '' The 
light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun ; 
and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the 
light of seven days." — Is. xxx. 26. 

Let us, brethren, not only divest ourselves of the 
J udaic notion of a weekly Sabbath Day of tiresome 
and slavish inertia, but endeavor to enter fully into 
the Sabbath-rest of faith ; being of the true circum- 
cision, w^ho worship by the Spirit of God, and glory 



20 THE SABBATH REST. 

in Christ Jesus, having no confidence in self, nor the 
ordinances of the flesh ; that in the enjoyment of rich 
spiritual blessings, as we sit in heavenly places in 
Christ Jesus, and by our Christian activities, we may 
demonstrate the superiority of the chosen Lord's Day 
of the church over the legal Sabbath of a defunct 
dispensation. 



DURING THE PATRIARCHAL AGES. 



No weekly Sabbath Day has ever been enjoined 
on any individual or people^ excepting the seventh 
day Sabbath given to Israel in the wilderness of Sin^ 
and shortly after incorporated in the national covenant 
which God made with that people. That covenant 
was established about twenty-five hundred years after 
the creation^ and continued in force about fifteen cen- 
turies^ when it was abrogated. 

As the observance of a particular day as a Sabbath 
has no place in natural law, the existence of such an 
institution cannot be admitted, except shown from 
positive precept, or the practice of the church under 
the leadership of inspired men. As no such com- 
mand, or example, appears in the Biblical history of 
the first twenty-five centuries, we conclude, that dur- 
ing that period the world was without a Sabbath Day. 



22 NO PATRIARCHAL SABBATH. 

Learned theological writers have assumed, that a 
weekly Sabbath was instituted in Eden, and enjoined 
on the human race ; but in the absence of proof, they 
have been compelled to rely upon inferential evidence 
and wild conjectures, which do not bring to their hy- 
pothesis even the coloring of plausibility. We would 
esteem it a favor, if those who are conversant with 
the affairs of Eden, and talk so familiarly about the 
Edenic Sabbath, would furnish us w^th a copy of the 
precept given to our first progenitors, to observe such 
a day and transmit the order to their posterity. Were 
we to admit, that a Sabbath for man was instituted 
in Eden, and that God's seventh day rest was a Sab- 
bath ; neither of which is true ; all the probabilities 
would be in favor of Adam's Sabbath being on the 
sixth day of the w^eek ; for he was not qualified to 
keep Sabbath with his Creator, not having lived six 
working days; and as he was formed on the sixth 
day, and put into the garden, to till it, and to keep 
it, he probably went to work the next day, and con- 
tinued to labor six days, which would make his Sab- 
bath occur on the sixth day. 

So far as we can learn from the Bible, there was 



NO PATKIARCHAL SABBATH. 23 

but one positive law with its penalty attached imposed 
on man in his primeval state. It reads thus : 

" Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely 
eat. But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil^ 
thou shalt not eat of it ; for in the day that thou eat- 
est thereof thou shalt surely die.^^ — Gen. ii. 16^ 17. 

The law binding on Adam, both natural and posi- 
tive, was in the form of a covenant. Hence, we read : 
^^ But they, like Adam, have transgressed the cove- 
nant." — Hos. vi. 7. The natural law was concreated 
with him, written upon his heart. The positive law, 
he could have no knowledge of, until it was revealed 
to him. If there had been a precept, requiring him 
to keep one day in every week as a Sabbath, its vio- 
lation would have been attended by the same fearful 
consequences, as the eating of the forbidden fruit; and 
therefore, would undoubtedly have been distinctly 
enunciated ; with directions for the manner of its ob- 
servance, and its sanctions, clearly indicated ; but no 
such document appears in the record. 

As the law under which Adam was placed was in 
the nature of a covenant, the penalty for its violation 



24 NO PATRIARCHAL SABBATH. 

was annexed to it, and a promise implied in it. For 
if the eating of the forbidden fruit was to result in 
death, obedience to the divine command would have 
insured the continuance of life. In this compac^t, the 
position of Adam was not that of a private individ- 
ual ; but he was constituted the federal head and rep- 
resentative of all his race. As he was a natural man, 
the covenant made with him was a natural covenant, 
containing the promise of natural blessings only ; in 
which respect, the covenant afterwards made with 
Israel resembled it. In so important a transaction ; 
in which God gave in trust to Adam, as the covenant 
head of his race, the interests of himself, his wife, and 
all their descendants by ordinary generation; it would 
have been inconsistent with the divine procedure in 
general, to have omitted the disclosure of any positive 
enactment. 

The primordial law was the only positive one re- 
quired, in order to test Adam^s obedience to his Cre- 
ator and Sovereign. Besides, there was no more 
necessity for a weekly Sabbath Day in Eden, than 
there now is for one to be kept by the righteous in 
hades ; or, than there will be for the observance of 



NO PATEIAECHAL SABBATH. 25 

one during the reign of Christ and his saints upon 
the earth in the millennial age. A periodical Sab- 
bath is adapted only to an imperfect and sinful state. 

If a weekly Sabbath Day was included in the cov- 
enant made Avith Adam, it seems to us, that the Bible 
statement of occurrences which took place on the sixth 
day, when God formed the man, entered into coven- 
ant with him, and putting him in the garden, to till 
it, and to keep it, gave him the prohibition respecting 
the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, 
would also have embraced the Sabbath statute, speci- 
fying the days on which he should work, and the one 
to be kept as a Sabbath, together with the manner in 
which he should hallow it. 

From Adam to Moses, a long line of centuries, no 
intimation of a Sabbath appears. Early waiters; for 
example, Justin Martyr, TertuUian, Irenseus, and 
Eusebius ; entertained the belief that no Sabbath was 
in force during that period ; that the patriarchs did 
not keep one; and mention Adam, Abel, Enoch, 
Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham, Lot, and Job, as non- 
observers of such a day. We do not refer to their 



26 KO PATRIARCHAL SABBATH. 

testimony as conclusive proof of our point, but to 
show that they were forced to their conclusion by the 
absence of evidence in fevor of the existence of such 
an institution. 

Among the sins mentioned in the Bible, that of 
Sabbath-breaking is unknown outside the Jewish 
commonwealth. It does not appear in the charges 
against the antediluvians, who are called by the 
apostle Peter " The world of ungodly men ^^ (2 Pe- 
ter ii. 5.) ; on account of whose wickedness, " The 
world that then was, being overflowed with water, 
perished " (2 Peter iii. 6.) ; nor among the sins of the 
c ities of the plain, which God spared not, " Turning 
to ashes the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, con- 
demned them to overthrow, having made them an 
example of those who should afterward live ungodly^^ 
(2 Peter ii. 6.); nor in the evil doings of the Egyp- 
tians, ^vho were visited with severe judgments for 
their iniquities ; nor the abominations of the Canaan- 
ites, and other nations, whom the land vomited out 
on account of their defilements. — Leviticus xviii. 
Ex. xxiii. 23, 24 ; Deut. xii. 29-31 ; Ezek. xx. 7, 8. 
We confess our want of faith to believe, in view of 



NO PATRIARCHAL SABBATH. 27 

the depravity of the human race, that the first instance 
of Sabbath-breaking occurred, after the weekly Sab- 
bath had been binding on all mankind for twenty- 
five centuries. The seventh day Sabbath had been 
given to Israel but a short time, when it was desecra- 
ted by a man in gathering sticks on that holy day. 
If the statute was enacted in Eden, twenty-five hun- 
dred years previously, it is unaccountably strange, 
that the writer of the Pentateuch did not know what 
penalty had been affixed to its violation ; and there- 
fore kept the offender in custody, until Jehovah gave 
directions how to dispose of the case. — Numbers xv. 
32-e36. 

On the supposition, that a seventh day Sabbath 
was instituted in Eden for the whole human family, 
to be perpetuated until the end of the world, there is 
another marvel worthy of note, that the rulers of the 
congregation of Israel could not account for the fact, 
that the manna which fell in the wilderness of Sin on 
the sixth day, measured two omers for each man, 
instead of one, as on previous days ; until Moses ex- 
plained the matter to them, informing them that the 
morrow would be a holy Sabbath to Jehovah, and 



28 XO PATRIARCHAL SABBATH. 

they would not then find it in the field. — Ex. xvi. 
22-26. We can account for the ignorance of the 
rulers only on the ground, that the origin of the 
seventh day Sabbath is here given. It is the first 
mention of a Sabbath in the Bible. 



I 



0fi|li if 




On the fifteenth day of the second month^ after 
evacuating Egypt, the Israelites came to the wilder- 
ness of Sin, between Elim and Sinai. — Ex. xvi. 1. 
There they raurmured against Moses and Aaron, 
saying : 

^' Would to God we had died by the hand of Jeho- 
vah in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh- 
pots, when we ate bread to the full; for ye have 
brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this 
whole assembly with hunger.'^ — Ex. xvi. 2-3. 

Then said Jehovah to Moses : 

^^ I will rain bread from heaven for you ; and the 
people shall go out and gather a certain rate every 
day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk 
in my law, or not. And it shall come to pass, that 



30 ORIGIN OF THE SABBATH. 

on the sixth day they shall prepare what they bring 
in ; and it shall be twice as much as they gather 
daily /^ — vs. 4, 5. 

The quantity to be gathered daily was an omer for 
every man. There was a miraculous adjustment of 
the quantities. When measured with an omer, he 
that gathered much had nothing over, and he that 
gathered little had no lack. — vs. 16-18. That which 
was gathered on the sixth day proved to be twice as 
much as was gathered daily. — v. 5. When the rulers 
saw the miracle by which that gathered on the sixth 
day measured two omers for each man, they came and 
told Moses. — V. 22. He explained it, informing 
them, that Jehovah had said : ^^ To-morrow will be 
the rest of the holy Sabbath to Jehovah " ; and gave 
orders for part of what was gathered on the sixth day 
to be kept until morning. — v. 23. 

The following morning, he said : 

" Eat that to-day ; for to-day is a Sabbath to Jeho- 
vah; to-day ye shall not find it in the field. Six 
days ye shall gather it ; but on the seventh day, the 
Sabbath, in it there shall be none.^^ — vs. 25, 26. 



OKIGIN OF THE SABBATH. 31 

^^ And it came to pass, there went out of the people 
on the Sabbath Day to gather, and they found none. 
And Jehovah said to Moses : How long refuse ye to 
keep my commandments and my laws ? See, for that 
Jehovah has given you the Sabbath, therefore he 
gives you on the sixth day the bread of two days ; 
abide ye every man in his place ; let no man go out 
of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested 
on the seventh day."— vs. 27-30. 

In the chapter from which we quote, we have a 
succinct account of the origin of the Sabbath. That 
it was a new institution, must be evident to every 
student of the sacred text, whose perceptions are not 
warped by pre-conceived opinions. The circumstan- 
ces related in the connection combine to show that 
then and there Jehovah for the first time made known 
to Israel his holy Sabbath. The first fall of manna 
was on the first day of the week, the seventh of which 
was the Sabbath. — vs. 13-15. On the seventh day of 
the previous week, the Israelites kept no day of rest ; 
for they were on a journey, arriving in the wilderness of 
Sin ; and in the evening gathered quails. — vs. 12, 13. 
We can not accept the statement, that they spent a 



32 ORIGIN OF THE SABBATH. 

holy Sabbath in traveling from Elim, or from the 
Red Sea (Numb, xxxiii. 10, 11.), to the wilderness 
of Sin^ and in gathering quails; and anon, all hands 
were engaged in stoning a man to death for gathering 
sticks on the Sabbath, (Numb. xv. 32--^6,). If there 
was a moral difference between gathering quails and 
gathering sticks, on the Sabbath ; let some theological 
editor, or other competent expositor of the Word, 
point it out to us. In the interim, y/e shall presume, 
thai the chief difference consisted in the quails being 
gathered before, and the sticks after, there was a Sab- 
bath law in force. 

It is beyond the reach of cavil, that the observance 
of the seventh day Sabbath was commenced in the 
wilderness of Sin, between Elim and Sinai, on the 
twenty-second day of the second month after the de- 
parture of the children of Israel out of the land of 
Egypt. 



THE SABBATH, 

Enjoined on Israel Only. 

The seventh day Sabbath was given to Israel, and 
to no other people. While they were in the wilder- 
ness of Sin, God said to Moses : 

" Jehovah has given you the Sabbath/^ — Ex. 
xvi. 29. 

On the fifteenth day of the third month, they came 
to the wilderness of Sinai, and encamped before the 
mount. We read : 

" And Moses vv^ent up to God, and Jehovah called 
to him out of the mountain, saying : Thus shalt thou 
say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Is- 
rael : Ye have seen what I did to the Egyptians, 
and I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you to 
myself. Now, therefore, if ye will obey my voice 



34 isbael's sabbath. 

indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a pe- 
caliar treasure to me above all people; for all the 
earth Is mine. And ye shall be to me a kingdom of 
priests, and a holy nation. These are the words 
which thou shalt speak to the children of Israel. And 
Moses came and called for the elders of the people, 
and laid before their faces all these words which Je- 
hovah commanded him. And all the people answered 
together, and said: All that Jehovah has spoken, 
we will do. And Moses returned the words of the 
people to Jehovah.^' — Ex, xix. 3-8. 

From these passages, we learn, that 

ist. — Jehovah gave the weekly Sabbath to Israel ; 

2d. — Jehovah reminded them, that he destroyed 
the Egyptians, and brought Israel to himself; 

3d. — God made a covenant with them ; 

4th. — ^In that covenant, God promised that they 
should be a peculiar treasure to him above all people, 
a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation ; and 

5th. — ^In that covenant, the people were required, 
and promised, to obey the voice of Jehovah. 



i 



Israel's sabbath. 35 

On the third day, in the morning, Jehovah came' 
down on mount Sinai (Ex. xix. 16-20), and he spoke 
these words, saying : 

'' I am Jehovah thy God, who brought thee out of 
the land of Kgypt, out of the house of bondage.'' — 
Ex. XX. 1, 2. 

He then gave them the Decalogue, the fourth sec- 
tion of which embraces the law of the seventh day 
Sabbath. It was therefore given to the Jews, the 
only people that God brought out of Egypt. 

Observe also, that in recapitulating, Moses says : 
'^ Remember that thou wast a servant in the land 
of Egypt, and Jehovah thy God brought thee out 
thence, through a mighty hand, and a stretched-out 
arm; therefore Jehovah thy God commanded thee to 
keep the Sabbath Day." — Deut. v. 15. 

If Jehovah made a covenant with the children of 
Israel, and gave them the Sabbath, because he brought 
them up out of the land of Egypt, it must have been 
an institution peculiar to the Jewish polity. 

Moses also says, in his recapitulation : 



36 Israel's sabbath. 

'' y^ hat nation is there so great^ that has statutes 
and judgments so righteous^ as all this law which I 
set before you this day.'' — Deut. iv. 8. 

The evidence is conclusive^ that no other nation 
had been favored with the statutes and judgments, 
and all the laws of a positive nature, which had been 
given to Israel. In agreement with this is PauPs 
declaration : 

^' For when Gentiles, who have no law, do by na- 
ture the things required by law, these, having no law, 
are a law to themselves ; who show the work of the 
law written in their hearts/^ — Rom. ii. 14, 15. 

It appears, therefore, that the Gentiles had only 
the law of nature, while the Jews had a code of posi- 
tive laws, of which the Sabbath was a very prom- 
inent one. 

What need was there for a clause in the law of the 
Sabbath, forbidding work to be done by strangers 
within Israel's gates, if all strangers were under the 
same law with the Jews? — Ex. xx. 10. It show^s 
clearly, that strangers not within the gates were ex- 
empt from that law. 



isbael's sabbath. 37 

Again, Moses says to the children of Israel : 

^' He declared to you his covenant, which he com- 
manded yon to perform, ten commandments, and he 
wrote them upon two tablets of stone/^ — Deut. iv. 13. 

Again : 

^' Jehovah our God made a covenant with us in 
Horeb. Jehovah made not this covenant with our 
fathers, but with us, us, who are all of us here .alive 
this day/'— Deut. v. 2, 3. 

And again, he closes the book of Leviticus with 
these words : 

" These are the commandments which Jehovah 
commanded Moses for the children of Israel in mount 
Sinai.'' — Levit. xxvii. 34. 

And Jehovah says, through the prophet Malachi : 

^' Remember ye the law of Moses my servant,which 
I commanded to him in Horeb, for all Israel, the 
statutes and judgments." — Mai. iv. 4. 

No doubt the ancient temple frequently resounded 
with harmonious praises from thoughtful and devout 



38 ISRAELIS SABBATH. 

Hebrews^ to Jehovah their God^ for his discriminat- 
ing favors^ as they sang : 

^*He makes known his word to Jacob, 
His statutes and his judgments to Israel. 
He has not done so to any nation ; 
And his judgments, they know them not. 
Praise ye Jah."— Ps. cxlvii. 19, 20. 

The texts cited in this section of our treatise are ir- 
refragable proofs^ that God isolated the children of 
Israel from all other nations^ chose them to be his 
peculiar people, entered into covenant with them, and 
gave them the Decalogue, containing the Sabbath 
precept, together with other statutes, judgments and 
laws, by which the Decalogue was supplemented, to- 
gether constituting the code by which they were to be 
governed. The advocates of a weekly Sabbath Day 
for the followers of Jesus Christ, under the new and 
better covenant, should produce a command for it, 
not from the writings of Moses and the prophets of 
olden time, but from the teachings of our Lord, and 
his harbinger and apostles. 



THE SINAIC COVENANT, 



=MADE WITH ISRAEL.^ 



The law given at Sinai, with its supplements, was 
in the form of a covenant ; and was made with Moses 
for the children of Israel, and not others. 

" Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the 
Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their gen- 
erations; a perpetual covenant/^ — Ex. xxxi. 16. 

'^ And Jehovah said to Moses : Write thou these 
words ; for after the tenor of these words I have made 
a covenant with thee and with Israel.'^-Ex. xxxiv. 27. 

^^ I will for their sakes remember the covenant of 
their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land 
of Egypt.'^ — Levit. xxvi. 45. 

^^ And he declared to you his covenant, which he 



40 THE SINAIC COVENANT. 

commanded you to perform^ ten commandments ; and 
he wrote them on two tablets of stone/' — Deut. iv. 13. 

^^And Moses called all Israel^ and said to them; 
Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I 
speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, 
and keep and do them. Jehovah our God made a 
covenant with us in Horeb.'' — Deut. v. 1, 2. 

"When I was gone up into the mount to receive 
the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which 
Jehovah made with you ; * * Jehovah delivered 
to me two tablets of stone, written with the finger of 
God ; and on them "^ according to all the words 
which Jehovah spake with you in the mount, out of 
the midst of the fire. * * Jehovah gave me the 
two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.'^ — 
Deut. ix. 9-11. 

" There was nothing in the ark, except the two 
tablets of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, 
when Jehovah made a covenant with the children of 
Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt. 

:K ;K :{« ^ ;jc :J« * 

And I have set them a place for the ark, wherein 



i 



THE SINAIC COVENANT. 41 

is the covenant of Jehovah, which he made with our 
fathers, when he brought them out of the land of 
Egypt."— 1 Kings viii. 9, 21. 

^^ And the king went up into the house of Jehovah, 
and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of 
Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, 
and all the people, both small and great ; and he read 
in their ears all the words of the book of the cove- 
nant which was found in the house of Jehovah. And 
the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant be- 
fore Jehovah, to walk after Jehovah, and to keep his 
commandments and his testimonies and his statutes 
with all their heart and all their soul, to perform 
the words of this covenant that were written in this 
book. And all the people stood to this covenant." — 
2 Kings xxiii. 2, 3. 

" There was nothing in the ark, except the two 
tablets which Moses put therein at Horeb, when Je- 
hovah made a covenant with the children of Israel, 
when they came out of Egypt." — 2 Chron. v. 10. 

" And in it I have put the ark, wherein is the cov- 



42 THE SINAIC COVENANT, 

enant of Jehovah^ that he made with the children of 
Israel/^— 2 Chron. vi. 11. 

The Decalogue is here put by way of eminence for 
the whole Jewish code, and is repeatedly spoken of as 
a covenant. As it was made with Israel only, it was 
not binding on other nations ; and as the law of the 
seventh day Sabbath is found only in this compact, 
Gentiles were under no obligation to observe it. Yet 
there are Seventh Day Baptists, so strangely infatu- 
ated as to imagine, that it is their duty to observe the 
Jewish Sabbath as an important part of their religion ; 
and there are others who seem to think, that the Sab- 
bath was sown a carnal ordinance, and has been 
raised a spiritual one ; and that it was sown a seventh 
day Sabbath, and has been raised a first day Sabbath; 
or, that this ancient institution has suffered a change, 
equivalent to death and resurrection, and thus become 
adapted to the present spiritual dispensation. 



THE DELIVERANCE OF ISRAEL FROM EGYPTIAN BONDAGE. 



God prefaced the Decalogue given at Sinai with 
these words : '' I am Jehovah thy God^ who have 
brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the 
house of bondage/^ — Ex. xx. 2. 

In recapitulating, Moses says : '^ And remember 
that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and 
eTehovah thy God brought thee out thence through a 
mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm ; therefore, 
Jehovah thy God commanded thee to keep the Sab- 
bath Day/'— Deut. v. 15. 

We have here, 

1st. — The fact commemorated ; 

2d. — The manner of commemorating it. 



44 THE SABBATH COMMEMORATIVE. 

We are not told, that the fact to be commemorated 
was the work of creation, as asserted in pseudo-theol- 
ogy ; but it was the bringing of the children of Israel 
out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bond- 
age. An entire nation had been four hundred years 
under the galling yoke of Egyptian bondage (Gen. 
XV. 13. Acts vii. 6.); and at the end of four hundred 
and thirty years (Ex. xii. 40, 41.), through the inter- 
position of Jehovah, they were brought out of that 
land, from under that rigorous servitude, amidst sig- 
nal displays of the divine sovereignty and power. 
Such had been the sufferings of the chosen nation 
while in Egypt, that it was called the iron furnace. 
Moses says : 

" Jehovah has taken you, and brought you forth 
out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be to him a 
people of inheritance, as ye are this day.'^ — Deut. 
iv. 20. 

In Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the tem- 
ple, he says : " They are thy people, and thy inher- 
itance, which thou didst bring forth out of Egypt, 
from the midst of the furnace of iron.'' — 1 Kings 
viii. 51. Compare Jer. xi. 4. 



THE SABBATH COMMEMOBATIVE. 45 

The emancipation of the hosts of Jehovah from a 
thraldom under which they had groaned for four cen- 
turies, and the defeat and total overthrow of their 
oppressors, demanded some constantly recurring me- 
morial of the event, to be perpetuated throughout their 
generations. For this the inscrutable wisdom of Is- 
rael's God had made provision. On the last day of 
the creation week, he had cast an omniscient glance 
through the vista of the patriarchal ages, and as he 
contemplated the marvelous deliverance of his adopt- 
ed people from the iron furnace of their cruel bondage, 
he ceased from his works to make the day divinely 
proleptical of a memorial Sabbath to be observed by 
the ransomed tribes. As he thus rested on the sev- 
enth day from his works of the preceding six days, so 
he determined that the elect nation should rest from 
their servile toils in Egypt ; and therefore appointed 
the seventh day of every week, on which they should 
cease from the labors of the preceding six days, in 
token of their devout gratitude to Jehovah their God, 
who had wrought for them so miraculous a deliver- 
ance from the hands of their enemies. In accordance 
with this decree, history informs us, that the emanci- 
pated tribes of Israel had proceeded but a short dis- 



46 THE SABBATH COMMEMORATIVE. 

tance on their typical journeyings through the ^vilder- 
ness^ before Jehovah made known to them his holy 
Sabbath.— Neh. ix. 14. 

As the people of the United States, for more than 
a century, have celebrated the fourth day of July in 
each year, in grateful remembrance of our deliverance 
from the British yoke ; so the Jews kept the seventh 
day in each week in commemoration of their redemp- 
tion from Egyptian bondage and tyranny. We signal- 
ize our day by national festivities, military pageantry, 
and various public demonstrations of joyousness and 
gratitude, at the will of the people ; but the Israelites 
were required by Jehovah their God and Deliverer, 
who instituted their Sabbath, to observe the day by 
holy convocations of their families in their dwellings ; 
and not to go out of their places on the seventh day, 
under penalty. 



The Sabbath a Sign. 



Another argument, showing that the Sabbath was 
confined to the Jews, may be drawn from the fact, 
that it was a sign between Jehovah and the children 
of Israel; and not others; by which they might know 
that he was Jehovah their God who sanctified them, 
set them apart from all other nations. 

" And Jehovah spake to Moses, saying : Speak 
thou also to the children of Israel, saying : Verily, 
my Sabbaths ye shall keep, for it is a sign between me 
and you, throughout your generations ; that ye may 
know that I am Jehovah who sanctifies you. Ye 
shall therefore keep the Sabbath ; for it is holy to you. 

JjC 5|5 ?tC ^ ?yC >JC 5jC 

Wherefore, the children of Israel shall keep the 
Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their 



48 THE SABBATH A SIGN. 

generations^ a perpetual covenant. It is a sign be- 
tween me and the children of Israel forever ; for in 
six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, and on the 
seventh day he rested, and was refreshed/^ — Ex. xxxi. 
12-14, 16, 17. 

'' Moreover also, I gave them my Sabbaths, to be 
a sign between me and them, that they might know 
that I am Jehovah who sanctifies them. 

Jfl Jji ^ 5t» '7* 'f* ^ 

And hallow my Sabbaths ; and they shall be a sign 
between me and you, that ye may know that I am 
Jehovah your God.'^— Ezek. xx. 12, 20. 

As the Sabbath was a sign of the fact, that God 
isolated Israel from all other nations, it must have 
been peculiarly a Jewish institution. 



^he $nhhai\ a ^c§\. 



The weekly Sabbath imposed on the children of 
Israel was to be observed as a day of holy rest to Je- 
hovah. They were not to assemble for public wor- 
ship ; bat the families were to be called together in 
their respective dwellings; not to do any work ; nor 
allow their servants^ nor their cattle, nor strangers 
within their gates, to do any ; not to kindle any fire 
throughout their habitations ; not to buy wares, nor 
food ; not to tread their wine-presses, bring in sheaves, 
nor load their asses ; not to carry any burden ; nor 
even gather sticks. 

"The rest of the holy Sabbath to Jehovah.''— Ex. 
xvi. 23. 

"Abide ye, every man in his place; let no man go 



50 THE SABBATH A REST. 

out of his place on the seventh day. So the people 
rested on the seventh day.^' — vs. 29, 30. 

" The seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, a holy 
convocation ; ye shall do no work ; it is the Sabbath 
of Jehovah in all your dwellings.'' — Levit. xxiii. 3. 

" The seventh day is the Sabbath of Jehovah thy 
God ; in it thou shalt not do any work ; thou, nor 
thy son, nor thy daughter ; thy manservant, nor thy 
maidservant; nor thy cattle; nor thy stranger who 
is within thy gates.'^ — Ex. xx. 10. 

" The seventh day is the Sabbath of Jehovah thy 
God ; in it thou shalt not do any work ; thou, nor 
thy son, nor thy daughter ; nor thy manservant, nor 
thy maidservant ; nor thy ox, nor thy ass, nor any of 
thy cattle; nor thy stranger who is within thy gates; 
that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as 
well as thou." — Deut. v. 14. 

" On the seventh day thou shalt rest ; that thy ox, 
and thy ass may rest; and the son of thy handmaid, 
and the stranger, may be refreshed." — Ex. xxiii. 12. 



' 



THE SABBATH A REST. 51 

" On the seventh day thou shalt rest ; in earing 
tirae^ and in harvest^ thou shalt rest." — Ex. xxxiv. 21. 

" Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habita- 
tions on the Sabbath Day."— Ex. xxxv. 3. 

" And if the people of the land bring ware^ or any 
victuals^ on the Sabbath Day, to sell, we would not 
buy it of them on the Sabbath, or on the holy day." 
— Neh. X. 31. 

^^In those days, I saw some in Judah treading 
wine-presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, 
and lading asses ; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and 
all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jeru- 
salem on the Sabbath Day; and I testified against 
them, in the day wherein they sold victuals* There 
dwelt men of Tyre also therein, who brought fish, 
and all manner of ware, and sold on the Sabbath to 
the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem. Then I 
contended with the nobles of Judah, and said to them : 
What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the 
Sabbath Day ? Did not your fathers thus, and did 
not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this 
city ? Yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by pro- 



52 THE SABBATH A REST. 

faning the Sabbath. And it came to pass, that when 
the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the 
Sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, 
and charged that they should not be opened till after 
the Sabbath ; and I set some of my servants at the 
gates, that there should be no burden brought in on 
the Sabbath Day. So the merchants, and sellers of 
all kinds of ware, lodged without Jerusalem once or 
twice. Then I testified against them, and said to 
them : Why lodge ye about the wall ? If ye do so 
again, I will lay hands on you. From that time 
forth, they came no more on the Sabbath. And I 
commanded the Levites, that they should cleanse 
themselves, and that they should come and keep the 
gates, to sanctify the Sabbath Day,^^ — Neh. xiii. 15-22. 

The sin of Sabbath-breaking was charged against 
the Jews only, not the Tyrians ; for the obvious rea- 
son, that the latter were not children of the covenant. 

'' Thus said Jehovah to me : Go and stand in the 
gate of the children of the people, whereby the kings 
of Judah come in, and by the w^hich they go out, and 
in all the gates of Jerusalem ; and say to them : Hear 
ye the word of Jehovah, ye kings of Judah, and all 



THE SABBATH A BEST. 53 

Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem^ that en- 
ter in by these gates ; thus says Jehovah : Take heed 
to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath 
Day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem. Nei- 
ther carry forth a burden out of your houses on the 
Sabbath Day ; neither do ye any work ; but hallow 
ye the Sabbath Day, as I commanded your fathers. 
But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear ; but 
made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor 
receive instruction. And it shall come to pass, if ye 
diligently hearken to me, says Jehovah, to bring in 
no burden through the gates of this city on the Sab- 
bath Day, but hallow the Sabbath Day, to do no 
work therein ; then shall there enter into the gates of 
this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of 
David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and 
their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants 
of Jerusalem; and this city shall remain for ever. 
And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and 
from the places about Jerusalem, and from the land 
of Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the moun- 
tains, and from the south, bringing burnt offerings, 
and sacrifices, and meat oflPerings, and incense, and 
bringing sacrifices of praise, to the house of Jehovah. 



54 THE SABBATH A BUST. 

But if ye will not hearken to roe^ to liallovr the Sab^ 
bath Day, and not to bear a burden^ even entering io 
at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath Day ; then 
will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall 
devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be 
quenched/^ — Jer. 5\;ii. 19-27. 

From a passage which we will quote presently 
(Numb. XV. 32-36.), we learn, that the law binding 
on Israel prohibited even the gathering of sticks on 
the Sabbath ; so profound was the rest required ob 
that holy day. 



The Penalty FOR Sabbath Breaking. 



»--30*G^^5«--t.^ 



The penalty for the slightest violation of the sanc- 
tity of the Sabbath Day was death, 

'' And while the children of Israel were in the wil* 
derness, they found a man that gathered sticks on the 
Sabbath Day. And they who found him gathering 
sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all 
the congregation. And they put him in ward, be- 
cause it was not declared what should be done to him. 
And Jehovah said to Moses : The man shall surely 
be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him 
with stones without the camp. And all the congre- 
gation brought him without the camp, and stoned 
him with stones, and he died ; as Jehovah command- 
ed Moses.''— Numb. xv. 32-36. 

" Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore ; for it is 



56 SABBATH PENALTY. 

holy to you. Every one who defiles it shall surely 
be put to death ; for whoever does work therein, that 
soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six 
days may work be done ; but in the seventh is the 
Sabbath of rest, holy to Jehovah ; whoever does w^ork 
in the Sabbath Day, he shall surely be put to death.'^ 
Ex. xxxi. 14, 15. 

"Six days shall work be done ; but on the seventh 
day there shall be to you a holy day, a Sabbath of 
rest to Jehovah ; whoever does work therein shall be 
put to death." — Ex. xxxv. 2. 

This fearful punishment was never inflicted upon 
any one, excepting an Israelite ; and for the reason, 
that the Sabbath statute was given only to Jews, and 
therefore Gentiles were not required to observe it. 



TYPIC 



JJ 



mmk\^ 



m & B 'B B MTMM TM B A T M M B f 



^AND THEv 



SEVENTH DAY SABBATH. 

As God^s seventh day rest was proleptical of the 
seventh day Sabbath^ they both sustained typical re- 
lations to the gospel dispensation and the rest which 
the people of God enter into by faith in the Messiah. 

Paul says : 

'^ Let not any one therefore judge you in food;, or 
in drink^ or in respect of a feast-day^ or of a new- 
moouj or of a Sabbath ; which are a shadow of the 
things to come, but the body is of Christ.'^-— Col. ii. 
16, 17. 



Therefore, not only the seventh day Sabbath, but 



58 TYPICAL SiaNlFlOANCE. 

the seventh year Sabbath (Ex, xxiii. 10, 11. Levit. 
XXV. 1-7, 18-22. Neh. x. 31.), and all others (Levit 
xvi. 29-31. xxiii. 23-39*), are a shadow of the things 
to come. The weekly Sabbath occurred on the sev- 
enth and last day of the week, preceded by six 
working days (Ezek. xlvi. 1.); and the septennial 
Sabbath on the seventh and last year of the week of 
years, following six years of labor. As God rested 
on the seventh day from his work of the previous six 
days, in anticipation of the Sabbath Day to be im- 
posed upon the Jews, the latter was arranged to be 
the seventh day, after six days of labor. Therefore, 
we read : 

" Six days slialt thou labor, and do all thy work. 
But the seventh day is the Sabbath of Jehovah thy 
God ; in it thou slmlt not do any work. ^ ^ * 
For in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the 
sea, and all that are in them, and rested the seventh 
day; wherefore, Jehovah blessed the Sabbath Day, 
and hallowed it.^' — Ex. xx. 9-11. 

The necessity for the Sabbath Day to be the sev- 
enth day, is apparent from its typical nature ; as the 
legal dispensation, with its toilsome rites and foi:mal- 



« 



TYPICAL SIONIFICAKCE. 59 

ities, was in force until the breaking of the gospel 
day^ and the fleeing away of the shadows of the cere- 
monial law^ (Cant. ii. 17. iv. 6.); and the heavy-laden 
sinner labors to establish his own righteousness (Rom. 
X. 3.), until he enters by faith into the Sabbath-rest 
which Jesus gives. (Matt. xi. 28-30. Heb. iv. 9). 

In the account given us of the creation, we read : 

"And there was evening, and there was morning, 
one day. * * * And there was evening, and 
there was morning, a second day. * * 'H And 
there was evening, and there was morning, a third 
day. ^ ^ ^ And there was evening, and there 
was morning, a fourth day. * ^ * And there 
was evening, and there was morning, a fifth day. 
>K >K 5i< And there was evening, and there was 
morning, the sixth day. And so were finished the 
heavens and the earth, and all their host. And on 
the seventh day, God ended his work which he made; 
and he rested on the seventh day from all his work 
which he made. And God blessed the seventh day, 
and hallowed it ; because on it he rested from all his 
work, which God created in making it.^^ — Gen. i. 5, 
8, 13, 19, 23, 31. ii. 1-3. "One day'' marks one of 



60 TYPICAL SIGNIFICANCE. 

the equal }3eriods into which the time employed in 
the work of creation is divided ; then we have '' A 
second day/'" that is^ a second equal period of labor ; 
and so on to the fifth^ inclusive ; and then we find the 
definite article prefixed, ^^ The sixth day"; indicating 
the close of the series of working days. But it is not 
declared, that there was evening, and there was morn- 
ing, the seventh day ; the period of rest not being 
measured by an evening and a morning, like the 
periods of labor ; to remind us of the intermination 
of the antitype. 

The Sabbath could not be changed from the sev- 
enth to any other day of the week, without destroy- 
ing its typical significance; which requires that it 
should follow six working days in the same week. 
The first descent of the manna in the wilderness of 
Sin was on the first day of the week, and on the 
seventh day of the same week was the first Sabbath 
to Jehovah ; and every succeeding seventh day was 
to be kept by the children of Israel as a Sabbath of 
rest. If it has been changed, as some assert, but no 
one has proved, to the first day of the week, it never 
was a type ; for the antitypical Sabbath has dawned, 



I 



TYPICAL SIGNIFICANCE. 61 

and all the shadows of the Mosaic economy have fled 
away before the risen Sun of Righteousness, pouring 
his healing beams upon all who feared the name of 
Jehovah.— Mai. iv, 2. 

In tracing the origin and history of the seventh day 
Sabbath, the thoughtful reader cannot fail to be im- 
pressed with the importance attached to the institu- 
tion; the frequency with which the Israelites are 
reminded of their duty to observe it ; the earnest ex- 
hortations, expostulations, warnings and promises, 
accompanying these reminders ; and especially the 
dreadful penalty threatened for the slightest violation 
of the precept. Upon investigating the subject close- 
ly, the reason becomes obvious. Its typical bearing 
involves vital points of doctrine. 

It was given to Israel only ; in which respect it 
typified the Sabbath-rest to the people of God, who 
sustain an antitypical relation to the chosen nation* 

^' For he is not a Jew, who is one outwardly ; nor 
is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh. 
But he is a Jew, who is one inwardly ; and circum- 
cision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the 



62 TYPICAL SIGNIFICAKCE. 

letter ; whose praise is not of men^ but of God.'^- 
Rom. ii. 28, 29„ 

It was included in a covenant^ made with Moses^ 
the mediator (John i. 17. Gal. iii. 19.)^ for all Israel, 
and not others ; so under the new dispensation, our 
Sabbath-rest is secured to us by a covenant ordered 
in all things, and sure (2 Sam. xxiii. 5. Ps. Ixxxix. 
3, 4, 26-39.), made with Jesus, the Surety and Me- 
diator of a better covenant, which has been established 
upon better promises (Heb. vii. 22. viii. 6.), for all 
the people of God, and them only. 

It commemorated the extraordinary favor of God 
towards the Israelites, in liberating them from the 
Egyptian yoke ; so the rest which the gospel brings 
to believers is a constant memorial of their deliver- 
ance from the bondage of sin, Satan, and the law. 

It was a sign between Jehovah and the children of 
Israel. By it they were constantly reminded, that 
in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, and on 
the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed ; and 
that he was Jehovah their God who sanctified them ; 



I 



TYPICAL SlGNIFlCAi^C^. 63 

set them apart as a people holy to himself in distinc- 
tion from all other nations^ to which he had given no 
Sabbath ; as he set apart the seventh day from all 
others, as one of holy rest to himself. By the spirit- 
ual Sabbath-restj the saints know^ that they are sanc- 
tified in Christ Jesus (1 Cor. i. 2.) ; set apart from the 
rest of mankind for himself^ a people to be his own. 
—Tit, ii. 14. 

*' For Jehovah has chosen 2ioh ; 

He has desired it for his abode. 

This is my resting-place forever ; 

Here wiU I dweU, for I have desired it." 

— Ps, cxxxii. 13, 14. 

This sign was to be continued between Jehovah 
and the Israelites throughout their generations ; or, 
as long as they should remain a covenant people. 
Our Sabbath-rest, being a provision of the covenant 
of grace, ordered in all things, and sure, can never 
come to an end. 

It was God's rest ; cessation from all previous work. 
The rest believers enter into, when they come to 
Christ as the end of the law for righteousness (Rom. 
X, 4.), is God^s rest.-— Heb. iii. 11^ 18, and iv. 1-11. 



64 TYPICAL SIG]S'IFICAKCE, 

No one can enjoy this blessing until be rests from hfe 
works, as God did from his own. He most cease 
from them entirely. We read j 

" Now to him that works^ the reward is not reck- 
oned as of grace, but as a debt. But to him that 
works not, but believes on him who justifies the un- 
godly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness. * "^ 
For if they that are of law are heirs, faith is made 
void, and the promise is made of no eifeet/"^ — Rom, 
Iv. 4, 5, 14. 

The Israelites were prohibited from kindling fires 
in their dwellings on the Sabbath ; and from gather- 
ing sticks. The Holy Spirit is the fire of the church 
(1 Thess. V. 19.), operating commonly through the 
word.— -Jer, xxiii. 29. At the revival on the day of 
Pentecost, "There appeared to them tongues as of 
fire, distributed among them ; and it sat upon each of 
them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, 
and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit 
gave them utterance.^^— Acts ii, 3, 4. Compare Heb. 
iv. 12. Jehovah God of hosts says to a prophet: 
^f Behold, I will make my v\^ords in thy mouth fire.^^ 
— Jer, V, 14. God says to the fire-kindlers : 



TYPICAL SIGNIFICANCE. 65 

"Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass 
yourselves about with sparks ; walk in the light of 
your fire, and in the sparks ye have kindled. This 
shall ye have of my hand, ye shall lie down in sor- 
row.^' — Is. i. 11. 

The penalty for violating the Sabbath was death. 
By this we are taught, that a religion based on human 
merit is false; and those who depend on their works 
for justification before God, are under condemnation. 
Every one who dies an Arminian must suffer the 
second death. 

"In that day (the gospel day), seven women (all 
the Arminian sects) shall take hold (by profession) of 
one man (the man Christ Jesus), saying : We will eat 
our own bread (feed on our own legal notions), and 
wear our own apparel (clothe ourselves in our own 
righteousress) ; only let us be called by thy name 
(Christian), to take away our reproach. — Is. iv. 1. 

These are all under a law of works. 

" Now we know, that whatever the law says, it 
says to those under the law ; that every mouth may 



66 TYPICAL SiaKlI^lCA:SX^£3 

be stopped^ and all the world may become guilty be- 
fore God. Because by works of law no flesh shall be 
justified in his sight; for bj law is the knowledge of 
sin.''— Eom. iii. 19, 20. 

The law says : 

" Cursed is every one that continues not in all the 
things written in the book of the law. to do them.^^ 
—Gal iii. 10- 

The nations that Were without a Sabbath mocked 
at the Jewish Sabbaths (Lam. i. 7.) ; so, those who 
have no Sabbath-rest in Christ contemn the doctrine 
of justification by faith apart from works of law/^--^ 
Rom, iii. 28. 



We pass on to notice the abrogation of the cove- 
nant which God made with the children of Israel in 
Horeb (Deut. v. 2.) ; embracing the Decalogue, or ten 
words, the fourth precept of which was the law of the 
seventh day Sabbath, and all the positive laws, rites, 
forms, offerings, and sacrifices, instituted or perpetu- 
ated under that covenant, and peculiar to the legal 
dispensation. 

Paul, who had been under that covenant, says : 
'^ Who also made us sufficient as ministers of a new 
covenant ; not of the letter, but of the spirit ; for the 
letter kills, but the spirit makes alive '' ; and speaks 
of the former as '^ That which is done away '^ ; and 
again, as "That which was to be done away/^ — 



68 THE COVENANT ABROGATED. 

2 Cor. iii. 6^ 11, 13, In another place^ he exhibits the 
two covenants by an allegory ; 

^^ Tell me^ ye who desire to be under law^ do ye 
not hear the law^ ? For it is written, that Abraham 
had two sons, one by the bond-w^oman, and one by 
the free-woman. But the one by the bond-woman 
was born after the flesh, and the one by the free-wo- 
man through the promise. \V hich things are an alle- 
gory. For these women are two covenants^ one from 
mount Sinai, bearing children into bondage, which is 
Hagar (for the word Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia)^ 
and answers to the Jerusalem that now is, for she is 
in bondage with her children. But the Jerusalem 
that is above is free, which is the mother of us alL 
For it is written : 

Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not j 
Break forih and cry, thou that travailest not; 
Because many are the children of the desolate, rather 
than of her who has the husband. 

But ye, brethren, after the manner of Isaac, are 
children of promise. But as then, the one born after 
the flesh persecuted the one born after the spirit, so 
also is it now. But what says the Scripture ? Cast 



THlfi COVENANT ABUOOATl^D. 69 

out the bond-woman and her son ; for the son of the 
bond-woman shall not be heir with the son of the 
free-woman. So, then, brethren, we are not children 
of a bond-woman, but of the free-woman.'^ — -Gal. iv. 

Those who observe a weekly Sabbath at the present 
time, desire to be under the law. Our Sabbatarian 
friends, and those who hold that the fourth precept 
of the Decalo;>:ue is bindino^ on all mankind, with the 
emendation of a change of the Sabbath from the sev- 
enth to the first day, are involved in the inconsistency 
of claiming that they are under one section of the 
Jewish national covenant, yet not under it as a whole. 
That coveoant is now abrogated, or it is still in force* 
If the former, it is binding on neither Jew nor Gen- 
tile. If the latter, every positive law contained in it 
is in force, equally with that of the Sabbath. But as 
it was made with Israel only, if binding at all, it is 
only on the seed of Jacob ; and if the Sabbath has 
been changed from the seventh day to the first, it is 
only the Jews who are obligated to keep the first day 
as the Sabbath. 



70 THE COVENANT ABROGATED. 

The apostle plainly teaches, iu the above allegory, 
that the first covenant was from mount Sinai, bearing 
children into bondage ; but that the new covenant 
saints are children of the Jerusalem that is above, 
and is free ; that after the manner of Isaac, they are 
children of promise. They who acknowledge them- 
selves obligated to keep a Sabbath Day, turn back to 
the weak and poor elements (rudiments) to which 
they desire to be in bondage. In the same chapter, 
the apostle inquires : "Do ye carefully observe days, 
and months, and seasons, and years'?^' and adds: "I 
am afraid of you, lest by any means I have bestowed 
labor upon you in vain.^^ — Gal. iv. 10, 11. 

Believers under the new covenant are called to lib- 
erty (Gal. V. 13.) ; and therefore the apostle exhorts : 
"Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty with which Christ 
made us free, and be not again entangled with the yoke 
of bondage.^^ — v. 1. Under the former covenant, the 
Israelites had so many laws, the penalty annexed to 
which was death, and to the violation of which they 
were constantly obnoxious, that through fear of death, 
they were all their lifetime subject to bondage. — 
Heb. ii. 15. 



I 



THE COVENANT ABHOGATEB. 71 

Paul says : 

" But now we are delivered from the law, having 
died to that wherein we were held; so that we serve 
in newness of spirit^ and not in oldness of the letter/^ 
—Rom. vii. 6» 

If delivered from the law, we are e:^empt from the 
observance of the weekly Sabbath ; for we have no 
account of such an institution, excepting in connec- 
tion with the legal covenant. It was an ordinance of 
the flesh, imposed until the time of reformation.— 
Heb. ix. 10. 

Both the ecclesiastical and civil states of Israel 
Were to be shaken and removed. So it was prophe- 
sied t 

" According to the Word that 1 covenanted with 
you, when ye came out of Egypt^ so my Spirit re- 
mains among you ; fear ye not* For thus says Jehovah 
of hosts i Yet once, it is a little while^ and I will 
shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and 
the dry land. And I will shake all nations, and the 
Desire of all nations shall come.'^— Hag. ii. 5-7. 



72 THE COVENANT ABROGATED. 

Referring to the foregoing prophecy, Paul says : 

"See that ye refuse not him that speaks; for if 
they did not escape, refusing him who declared the 
divine will on earth, much more shall not we, who 
turn away from him who speaks from heaven ; whose 
voice then shook the earth ; but now he has prom- 
ised, saying : Yet once more I shake, not the earth 
only, but also heaven. And this, yet once more, sig- 
nifies the removing of the things shaken, as of things 
that have been made, that the things which are not 
shaken may remain. 

Wherefore, receivino; a kino^dom which can not be 
ghaken, let us have grace whereby we may serve God 
acceptably, with reverence and godly fear.^^ — 11 eb. 
xii. 25-28. 

Another prophet testifies t 

'' Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will 
make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and 
with the house of Judah ; not according to the cove- 
nant that I made with their fathers, in the day I took 
them by the hand to bring them out of the land of 
Egypt; which my covenant they broke, although I 



THE COVENANT ABROGATED. 73 

was a husband to thern^ says Jehovah ; but this shall 
be the covenant that I will make with the house of 
Israel i After those daySj says Jehovah, I will put 
my law in their inward parts, and write it in their 
hearts ; and will be their God, and they shall be my 
people. And they shall teach no more every man his 
neighbor, and every man his brother, saying : Know 
Jehovah ; for they shall all know me, from the least 
of them to the greatest of them, says Jehovah ; for I 
will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their 
sin no more,'^ — Jer. xxxi, 31-34, 

It is impossible for the impartial seeker after truth 
to misunderstand the prophecy quoted above. The 
statement is clear and explicit, that Jehovah made a 
covenant with the Jewish fathers when he took them 
by the hand to bring them up out of the land of 
Egypt; that they had broken that covenant; and 
that he would make another with them, but not ac-^ 
cording to the old one, which enjoined the keeping of 
a weekly Sabbath. Besides, an excellent commenta- 
tor has explained it thus i 

^^ But now he has obtained a more excellent minis- 
try, by so much as he is also Mediator of a better 



74 THE COVENANT ABROGATED. 

covenant, which has been established upon better 
promises. 

For if that first had been faultless, a place would 
not have been sought for the second. For finding 
fault with them, he says : 

Behold, the days are coming, saith the Lord, 

When I will make with the house of Israel, 

And with the house of Judah, a new covenant; 

Not according to the covenant that I made for their fathers, 

In the day when I took hold of their hand. 

To bring them out of the land of Egypt; 

Because they continued not in my covenant, 

And I regarded them not, saith the Lord. 

For this is the covenant that I will establish for the house of 

Israel, 
After those days, saith the Lord, ; 

Putting my laws into their mind. 
And on their hearts I will write them ; 
And I will be to them a God, 
And they shall be to me a people; 
And they shall not teach, 

Each one his neighbor, and each one his brother. 
Saying: Know the Lord; 

Because all shall know me, from the least to the greatest; 
Because I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, 
And their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more. 

In that he says, a new, he has made the first old. 
Now that which is grown old, and worn out w^ith age, 
is ready to vanish away.'^ — Heb. viii. 6-13. 



THE COVENANT ABROGATED. 75 

The foregoing prophecies from Haggai and Jere- 
miah^ together with the explanations given by Paul^ 
settle the question regarding the abrogation of the 
Sinaic covenant^ and the establishment of the present 
one. Throughout the Sacred Volume, wherever 
referred to, they are constantly regarded antithetical- 
ly. They are spoken of as the first, and the second ; 
the faulty, and the better ; the old, and the new ; 
that which is done away, and that w^hich abides 
(2 Cor. iii. 11.); the things shaken and removed, and 
the things that are not shaken and remain. If the 
Scriptures bearing upon this point do not teach the 
abrogation of the former covenant, with all its rites 
and ceremonies, sacrifices and oblations, holy days 
and holy years, new-moons and solemn feasts, the 
total breaking up and removal of the Mosaic econo- 
my, and the obliteration of every vestige of that dis- 
pensation, it is impossible to write a paragraph in the 
English language expressive of the fact. 

The former dispensation was a typical dispensation; 
and it was therefore necessary that it should be super- 
seded by its antitype. The covenant was a typical 
covenant; it was made with a typical people; its 



76 THE COVENANT ABROGATED. 

mediator was a typical mediator; the blood with 
which it was dedicated and ratified was typical blood; 
the blessings promised in it were typical blessings ; 
the sacrifices offered under it were typical sacrifices ; 
the priests who offered them were typical priests ; the 
very garments in which they were offered were typi- 
cal garments ; the sanctuary was a typical sanctuary ; 
and all its appurtenances were typical appurtenances ; 
all the services performed were typical services; its 
Sabbaths were typical Sabbaths; and its passover 
was a typical passover. They were all shadows of 
the good things to come, and are all fulfilled in 
Christ; so that not one jot, nor one tittle, of the law 
has failed, nor can fail. 

God declares, that the new covenant which he 
promises to make with the house of Israel, and with 
the house of Judah, at their conversion, shall not be 
according to the covenant that he made for their fa- 
thers, in the day w^hen he took hold of their hand, to 
bring them out of the land of Egypt, which embraced 
the observance of a weekly Sabbath Day. 

Paul tells us : ^^ For the priesthood being changed, 
of necessity there comes also a change of law. * * 



THE COVENANT ABROGATED. 77 

* * For on the one hand, there is an annulling of 
the commandment that went before, on account of its 
weakness and unprofitableness^ for the law perfected 
nothing/^— Heb. vii. 12, 18, 19. Again: ^^The law 
makes men high priests who have infirmity ; but the 
word of the oath, which was since the law, makes the 
Son, who is perfected forever.'' — Heb. vii. 28. 

If, the new covenant is not according to the old 
one ; if, the change of the priesthood from the order 
of Aaron to that of Melchizedek necessitates a change 
of law ; and the word of the oath by which the Son 
is made High Priest is since the law ; and if, the 
commandment that went before has been annulled ; 
then, surely, the old covenant is abrogated, and the 
Sabbath law which was a part of it is no longer in 
force. 

Let us stand fast, therefore, in the liberty with 
which Christ made us free, and not be entangled with 
the yoke of bondage.— Gal. v. 1. We are not under 
law, but under grace. — Rom. vi. 14. The law has 
become our schoolmaster, leading us into Christ, that 
we might be justified by faith. But the faith having 



78 THE COVENANT ABEOGATEBr 

come^ we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For 
we are all sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For 
all we who were immersed into Christy did put on 
Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek/there is 
neither bond nor free, there is no male and female ; 
for we are all one in Christ Jesus. And if we are 
Christ's^ then are we Abraham's seed, heirs according 
to the promise.— Gal. iii. 24-29. 




THE LORD'S DAY] 



:8-^ 



■ — »-->s>»Sif585*s>«.-« 



The servitude of the law, with its rigorous require- 
ments, burdensome yoke, and penal severities, is in- 
compatible with the genius of the gospel dispensation. 
Therefore, Jesus has blotted out the handwriting in 
ordinances that was against us, which was opposed to 
us ; and he has taken it out of the way, nailing it to 
the cross. — Col. ii. 14. Jews and Gentiles may now 
vsit down together in the banquetting-house of our 
Beloved, beneath the banner of love. — Cant. ii. 4. 
" For he is our Peace, who made both one, and broke 
down the middle wall of partition ; having abolished 
in his flesh the enmity, the law of commandments 
contained in ordinances, that he might make the two 
one new man in himself, making peace.'^ — Eph. ii. 
14, 15. Under the present economy, we have no 



so THE LOHD^S BAY, 

weekly Sabbath Day^ but a perpetual Sabbath-rest. 
^^Let not any one therefore judge you in food^ or in 
drink^ or in respect of a feast-day, or of a new-moon, 
or of a Sabbath/^— Col, ii. 16. "One man esteems 
one day above another ; another esteems every day 
alike. Let each one be fully persuaded in his own 
mind. He that regards the day^ regards it to the 
Lord ; and he that eats, eats to the Lord^ for he giv^es 
thanks to God ; and he that eats not, to the Lord he 
eats not, and gives thanks to God. For none of us 
lives to himself, and none dies to himself. For if we 
live, we live to the Lord ; and if we die, we die to 
the Lord ; whether we live therefore, or die, we are 
the Lord's." — Rom, xiv. 5-8. 

Under the new covenant, we are called unto liberty c 
^^ For all the law is fulfilled in one word, in this ; 
Thou shall love thy neighbor as thy self. ^^—Gdl. v. 14, 
If we are led by the Spirit, we are not under law. — • 
V. 18a James says : " If indeed ye fulfill the royal 
Jaw, according to the Scripture, Thou shaU love thy 
neighbor as thy self y ye do well. * * * So speak, 
and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of 
liberty," — Jam. ii. 8, 12. Compare Rom. xiii. 9, 10. 



THE LOHB^S BAY. 81 

By this law of liberty the church was left to choose 
at what places and times they would worship. Jesus 
says : '' An hour is coming, and now is, when the 
true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and 
in truth ; for such the Father seeks to worship him. 
God is spirit ; and they that worship him, must wor- 
ship him in spirit and in truth/^- — John iv. 23, 24» 
He does not require of us to worship him in Jerusa- 
lem, nor in the mountain of Samaria. , Nor is it es- 
sential to the acceptance of our devotions, that they 
be offered on any particular day of the week. ^^ Now 
the Lord is the Spirit ; and where the Spirit of the 
Lord is, there is liberty.'^— -2 Cor. iii. 17. 

Jesus says i ^^ The law and the prophets were un- 
til John ; from that time the good news of the king- 
dom of God is published.^^- — Luke xvi. 16. But 
during the ministry of John, and that of Jesus, we 
find no announcement of the setting apart of the first 
day of the week, or any other day, as a Sabbath to be 
observed in the kingdom. Although, as Paul asserts, 
^^ We are delivered from the law, having died to that 
wherein we were held ^^ (Rom. vii. 6.), we are not 
without law to God, but under law to Christ. — 1 Cor. 



82 THE lord's day, 

ix. 21. After our Lord's resurrection^ he says to the 
eleven : ^^ All power was given to me in heaven and 
on earth. Go^ therefore^ and disciple all the nations ; 
^ * teaching them to observe all things^ w^hatever 
I commanded you." — Matt, xxviii. 18-20. One of 
the apostles says : " If any one thinks himself to be 
a prophet^ or spiritual^ let him acknowledge, that the 
things which I write to you are the Lord's command- 
ments." — 1 Cor. xiv. 37. But no directions are given 
to the church by these inspired teachers, to keep the 
first day of the week, or any day, as a Sabbath ; nor 
as a day for special worship and other religious ser- 
vices. 

As it was important to establish regular and uni- 
form worship, lest it should fall into neglect, the 
church evidently selected the first day for that purpose 
by general choice and consent, and by virtue of that 
liberty distinguishing the gospel church state. The 
resurrection of Jesus transpired on the first day of the 
week, and on the same day the disciples met. The 
first day of the following week they again convened. 
Both these occasions were favored with the personal 
presence of the risen Savior, who came and stood in 



THE LORB^S DAY. 83 

their midst, and says : " Peace be to you/^ — John xx. 
19, 26. Again we find them all with one accord in 
one place, on the day of Pentecost (Acts ii. 1.), which 
we have reason to believe was the first day. The day 
\vas then honored by several memorable occurrences. 
They received the Promise of the Father, were im* 
mersed in the Holy Spirit (Acts i. 4, 5.) ; men of all 
nations heard the gospel preached, each in his own 
tongue (Acts ii. 7-11.); three thousand of whom, 
having received the word, and been born of the Spirit, 
were immersed in water; and the church experienced 
a further development. — vs. 41-47. These circum* 
stances, together with its being the next day after the 
Jewish Sabbath, then abrogated, without doubt had a 
potent influence in leading to the selection of the first 
day for assembling for united worship and religious 
services in general. Hence we meet with frequent 
evidences of that day being kept, in the subsequent 
history of the church. The disciples at Troas came 
together on the first day of the week to break bread, 
and hear Paul preach. — Acts xx. 7-11. The custom 
of the church in the apostolic age to meet on that day, 
appears probable from PauFs order to the churches of 
Galatia and Corinth : " On each first day of the week. 



84 THE LORD^S DAY. 

let every one of you lay by him in store, according as 
he is prospered, that there may be no collections when 
I come/^ — 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2. But it was not until 
about sixty years after the resurrection, that it was 
called the Lord's Day, and then but once ; but it was 
so termed by an inspired man, the apostle John, then 
an exile in the island called Patmos. — Rev. i. 9, 10. 
And it is a consideration of great weight, that this 
usage of the church obtained under the leadership of 
the apostles and other inspired men. 

As we prefer to rely on the Scriptures to sustain 
our views, we will say but little respecting the testi- 
monies of uninspired writers of the early centuries. 
Among them are Ignatius of Antioch, who died but 
a few years after the apostle John ; Justin Martyr, a 
few years later still ; Dionysius of Corinth and Clem- 
ens of Alexandria, in the second century ; Tertullian^ 
in the beginning of the third century ; and Origen 
and Cyprian, in the same ; who all bear witness to 
the practice of the churches in observing the Lord's 
Day as a special season of worship. 

The first day of the week has been the chosen one 



THE lord's day. 85 

of the church from early in the apostolic age to the 
present tinie^ with comparatively few exceptions^ on 
which to engage in stated and special devotions and 
services^ private and public ; to assemble for the ob- 
servance of the ordinances, the ministry of the word, 
prayer, exhortation, singing praises, and reading the 
Scriptures. '^ He that regards the day, regards it to 
the Lord ;'' and should therefore lay aside his secular 
employments; excepting such as may be necessary, 
as the preparation of food, the feeding and care of 
domestic animals, attendance on the sick, and giving 
alms. Conversation on other than religious topics, 
reading secular prints, pleasure excursions, ordinary 
visiting, writing letters, posting accounts, and w^hat- 
ever tends to dissipate serious thought, and unfit us 
for close communion with the Holy One, should be 
avoided. 

But we should bear in mind, that the Lord's Day 
is not the Jewish Sabbath, changed from the seventh 
to the first day of the week, and transferred to the 
new dispensation. Not only is it not the Sabbath 
imposed on Israel; but it is not a Sabbath at all. 
It is not so denominated in the Scriptures. It has 



86 THE LOEB^S BAY- 

not the characteristics of a Sabbath ; does not answer 
the design of a Sabbath ; does not bear any resem- 
blance to a Sabbath ; and sustains no relation to a 
Sabbath. Neither has it come in the room of the 
Jewish Sabbatha 

The Sabbath was instituted by divine command^ 
with a terrific penalty annexed to its violation. Je- 
hovah came down upon mount Sinai, and spake with 
the children of Israel from heaven, amidst fire, and 
smoke, and thunders, and lightnings, and blackness, 
and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trum- 
pet, and the voice of words, and made known to them 
his holy Sabbath ; but no statute was given to the 
church of immersed believers, to keep the Lord's Day. 
It was a voluntary on the part of the church, in 
keeping with the liberty and spirituality of the new 
and better covenant. The fiery law of Jehovah de- 
nounced death for the least infringement of the fourth 
section of the Decalogue, without mercy ; but the gos- 
pel affixes neither the promise of life to the observ- 
ance of the Lord's Day, nor the threatening of death 
to its non-observance. 



THE lord's day. 87 

The Sabbath was divinely appointed to occur on 
the seventh day of each week, and on no other. 
^^Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work/' 
was as truly binding on the Israelites, as ^^ The sev- 
enth is the Sabbath of Jehovah thy God ; in it thou 
shalt not do any work.'' But under the new cove- 
nant, the setting apart of any particular day, or any 
number of particular days, for special worship and 
services, depends not on any express and divine enact- 
ment, specifying what day, or days, must be so kept > 
but any day, or days, we may regard to the Lord, 
become to us Lord's Days ; and we are assured that 
the observance of them is acceptable to the great 
Head of the church. 

The Sabbath was enjoined on Israel as a day of 
profound rest. The families were to be convoked in 
their respective dwellings; no work was to be done; 
the gathering of sticks, and the kindling of fires, were 
prohibited ; no man was to go out of his place on that 
holy day ; and therefore the people were not required, 
nor permitted, to convene for public worship. On 
the Lord's Day, we have only a partial rest from sec- 
ular pursuits, while our evangelical labors are greatly 



88 THE LOKD^S DAY* 

increased ; so that^ upon the whole^ with those who 
fulfill their baptismal engagements^ faithfully persist- 
ing in walking in newness of life, it is the most 
active and laborious one of the whole week. 

Our Seventh Day Baptist friends, and all others 
who profess to keep a weekly Sabbath Day of rest to 
the Lord^ involve themselves in gross inconsistencies, 
and solemn mockery. They give their adversaries 
ground to mock at their Sabbaths. For example, 
what do we see ? We take the wings of a lovely (so- 
called) Sabbath morning, and soar into the heavens 
which canopy a Baptist section of our favored land ; 
and as we survey the scene below, we see a pious mul- 
titude of New Testament Sabbatarians, milking cows, 
driving cattle to pasture, grooming horses, blacken- 
ing boots, gathering sticks, picking up chips, kind- 
ling fires, cooking provisions ; in short, doing up the 
Sabbath morning chores. 

*' Sweet day f so calm, so pure, so bright; 
The bridal of the earth and sky I " 

After discussing the politics of the day, and the 
w^eek ; while breaking their fasts at tables loaded with 



THE LoWs DAY. 89 

the luxuries said to be so plentifully dispensed to 
those who keep one day in seven, as a sacred rest to 
Jehovah ; and having decided who shall go up to the 
courts of the Lord^s house, and who shall remain at 
home to prepare dinner by the return of the hungry 
worshipers; hats, and bonnets, and dresses, and 
furbelows, and coats, and whatever may add to the 
comfort and attractiveness of these devoted people, 
are brought out and tastefully arranged on their per- 
sons ; and presently we see the old and the young, 
some on foot, some on horseback, and some in car- 
riages, AVending their way to the sanctuary ; some of 
them driving miles to keep holy '^ The day the Lord 
has made/' Of course, horses are not regarded by 
these Sabbatical expositors of the Scriptures, as com- 
ing within the spirit and meaning of the law, which 
reads : ^^ Nor thy ox, nor thy ass, nor any of thy 
cattle/^ No one will contend, that horses are oxen, 
or asses, or cattle. Nor do they consider, that those 
left at home to provide dinner, are to be included in 
the clause, "That thy manservant and thy maid- 
servant may rest as well as thou/^ 

The people having congregated within the walls 



90 THE LOED^S DAY. 

of a dedicated temple^ the hymn is read and sung^ 
commencing : 

"Another six days' work is done. 
Another Sabbath is begun ; 
Return, my soul, enjoy thy rest. 
Improve the day thy God hkth blest." 

Prayer is now offered, accompanied with thanks 
for the return of the holy Sabbath ; and after reading 
and singing 

•'The day of rest once more comes round,^^ 

The text is announced : 

'* Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy." 

The speaker informs liis audience, that the Sabbatli 
was instituted in Eden, and its observance enjoined 
on the whole human family, as stated by our best the- 
ological writers, and taught in all our theological 
seminaries ; that God blessed and sanctified the sev- 
enth day, that is, made a Sabbath of it, and kept it 
himself; that no reasonable doubt can be entertained, 
that Cain and Abel brought their offerings on the 
Sabbath to present to the Lord ; that the words, ^^In 
process of days,'^ ought to have been translated, "In 



THE lord's bay. 91 

the end of days/' that is, in the end of the seven days 
of the week, the Sabbath Day ; that Noah evidently 
preserved the Sabbath from desecration while in the 
ark, sending forth the dove at intervals of seven days 
•each, very probably on three successive Sabbaths; 
that the completion of Rachel's week by Jacob has a 
manifest reference to the Sabbath ; that when Moses 
said : '' This is that which the Lord has said : To- 
morrow will be the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the 
Lord/' he had reference to what God had said to 
Adam in the garden of Eden ; that the text, " Re- 
member the Sabbath Day/' shows conclusively that 
the people were required to remember the Sabbath 
which had been instituted long before ; that it is ex- 
pressly declared, that the Sabbath was made for man, 
that is, for all mankind ; that it is also asserted, that 
the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath, which he 
could not be unless a Sabbath w^as in force, and that 
too under the present reign of grace ; and that at our 
Savior's resurrection, the seventh day Sabbath which 
commemorated creation was changed to the first day 
Sabbath which commemorates redemption. 

After some hasty, concluding services, we see the 



92 THE lord's day. 

people dispersing; with their intellectual stomachs 
stuffed with a mass of indigestible husks ; some to 
their homes and sumptuous repasts^ and others to the 
houses of their friends^ to assist in disposing of their 
viands and desserts ; while we glide safely back to 
earthy ready to indite the next paragraph. 

The Sabbath was not appointed for the convening 
of the people for the public singing of praises^ read- 
ing the Scriptures^ and preaching the word. This is 
evident from the words : " Let every man abide in 
his place ; let no man go out of his place on the sev- 
enth day ^^ ; and again : '' It is the Sabbath of Jeho- 
vah in all your dwellings.'' If the Sabbath was to 
be kept in all the dwellings of Jacob, and no man 
was permitted to go out of his place on that day, 
there could have been no assembling in one place for 
public worship without violating its sanctity. But it 
has been a custom of the church, ever since the resur- 
rection of the Lord, with numerous and oft-repeated 
proofs of the divine approval, to assemble on the first 
day of the week, or Lord's Day, for stated worship 
and various religious exercises. 



THE lord's day. 93 

The seventh day Sabbath was confined to a single 
nation, worshipping in one place, and sacrificing on 
the same altar. It was a national Sabbath ; and 
adapted only to those whose seventh day was com- 
posed of precisely the same time. The hours of the 
Sabbath were holy time, in distinction from the hours 
of any other day ; and consequently, all who kept it, 
did so simul et semel; commenced, continued, and 
completed, the observance of the day, together; 
w^hich could not be done by all nations ; and which 
can not now be done by the dispersed tribes. If our 
Seventh Day Baptist brethren had a denominational 
existence in all parts of the world, it would be im- 
possible for them to carry their principles into prac- 
tice. Such is the absurdity in which those are 
involved, w^ho pretend to observe a weekly Sabbath 
Day, whether the first or seventh of the week, under 
a dispensation in which the middle wall of partition 
between Jews and Gentiles is broken down (Eph. ii. 
11-18.), and the glorious gospel of salvation and lib- 
erty is proclaimed alike to all ; and the angel is flying 
in mid-heaven, having the everlasting gospel to 
preach to those who dwell on the earth, and to every 
nation, and tribe, and tongue, and people. — Rev. 



94 



THE LORD S DAY. 



xiv. 6. The saints of God are no longer tramelod 
with ordinances of the flesh ; but in every nation^ 
he that fears God^ and works righteousness, is accept- 
able to him (Acts x. 35,) ; and whatever day he re- 
gards ; it is to him a Lord's Day, and rich in spirit- 
ual good. 

The Sabbath was a memorial of a nation^s emanci- 
pation from an oppressive servitude ; but the Lord's 
Day commemorates nothing ; it is simply selected by 
the volition of a large part of the church as a day on 
which to partially dispense with the ordinary business 
of life, to give themselves more fully to the worship 
and work devolving on them as the followers of the 
Lord Jesus. 

The Sabbath was a sign between Jehovah and the 
children of Israel, that he had set them apart from 
all other nations ; but the Lords Day is not the sign 
of anything. 

Jesus says to the Jews : " Has not Moses given 
you the law, and none of you keeps the law?'' — John 
vii. 19. So we may say to Seventh Day Baptists, 
and other Baptists who like them claim to be under 



THE lord's day. 95 

the law of Moses : Has not Moses given you the 
Sabbath, and none of you keeps the Sabbath ? We 
have yet to meet with the first one, Seventh Day 
Baptist, or first Day Baptist, Jew, or Gentile, who 
keeps either the first or seventh day of the w^eek as 
the ancient Sabbath was required to be kept. These 
votaries of a weekly Sabbath should practice what 
they teach. To many, example speaks more impres- 
sively than words. They not only assemble for pub- 
lic worship and preaching on their holy day, but they 
perform much forbidden labor, go on long and need- 
less journeys, carry burdens, teach school, visit their 
friends and acquaintance, receive and entertain com- 
pany, or devote many of the sacred hours to courtship. 
Some, under the pretext of visiting the afflicted, con- 
gregate in the sickroom, and weary the invalids with 
loud conversation ; so that physicians frequently find 
their patients much worse the next day after the rest 
of the holy Sabbath. 

A total rejection of a weekly Sabbath, and a return 
to the proper observance of the Lord's Day, would 
add largely to the spirituality and working power of 
the church of immersed believers. It would abate 



96 THE lord's day, 

the evils of Sunday visiting and Sunday gossip ; tend 
to impress upon our membership their personal re- 
sponsibility resixx'ting the evangelical activities to 
which their divine Master has called them ; and afford 
a practical exposition of that beautiful parable of our 
Lord : " The kingdom of heaven is like to leaven^ 
which a woman took and hid in three measures of 
meal^ until the whole was leavened/^— Matt. xiii. 33, 




^ 



SEVENTH DAY. 

Gen. ii. 2, 2, 3. 

Ex. XVI. 26, 27, 29, 30; xx. 10, 11; xxiii. 12; 
xxiv. 16; xxxi. 15, 17; xxxiv. 21; xxxv. 2. 
Levit. xxiii. 3, 8. 
Deut. V. 14. 
Heb. iv. 4. 

SIX WORKING DAYS. 
Ex. xvi. 26; xx. 9; xxiii. 12; xxxi. 15; xxxiv. 
21 ; xxxv. 2. 
Levit. xxiii. 3. 
Deut. V. 13. 
Ezek. xlvi. 1. 
Luke xiii. 14. 

SEVENTH DAY SABBATH. 

Ex. xvi. 23, 25, 26, 29 ; xx. 8, 10, 11 ; xxxi. 13, 
14, 15, 15, 16, 16; xxxv. 2, 3. 

Levit. xix. 3, 30; xxiii. 3,3, 11, 15, 15, 16; 
xxiv. 8. 

Numb. XV. 32 ; xxviii. 9, 10. 

Deut. V. 12, 14, 15. 

2 Kings xi. 5, 7, 9, 9 ; xvi. 18. 



CONCORDANCE. 



1 Chron. ix. 32. 

2 Chron. xxiii. 4, 8, 8. 

Neh. ix. 14; x. 31, 31; xiii. 15, 15, 16, 17, 18, 
19, 19, 19, 21, 22. 

Is. Ivi. 2, 4, 6 ; Iviii. 13, 13. 

Jer. xvii. 21, 22, 22, 24, 24, 27, 27. 

Ezek. XX. 12, 13, 16, 20, 21, 24; xlvi. 1, 4, 12. 

Amos viii. 5. 

Matt. xii. 1, 2, 5, 5, 8, 10, 11, 12; xxiv. 20; 
xxviii. 1. 

Mark i. 21 ; ii. 23, 24, 27, 27, 28 ; iii. 2, 4 ; vi. 2 ; 
xvi. 1. 

Luke iv. 16, 31 ; vi. 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 9 ; xiii. 10, 14, 
14, 15, 16; xiv. 1, 3, 5; xxiii. 54, 56. 

John V. 9, 10, 16, 18 ; vii. 22, 23, 23 ; ix. 14, 16 ; 
xix. 31, 31. 

Acts i. 12; xiii. 14, 27, 42, 44; xv. 21 ; xvi. 13; 
xvii. 2 ; xviii. 4. 

Col. ii. 16. 

SABBATH REST. 

Heb. iv. 9. 

SIX WORKING YEARS. 

Ex. xxiii. 10. 
Levit. XXV. 3. 

SEVENTH YEAR SABBATH. 

Ex. xxiii. 10, 11. 
Levit. XXV. 1-7, 18-22. 
Neh. X. 31. 



CONCORDANCE. 99 

FIEST DAY OF THE SEVENTH MONTH SABBATH. 

Levit. xxiii. 23-25. 

TENTH DAY OF THE SEVENTH MONTH SABBATH. 

Levit. xvi. 29-31 ; xxiii. 26-32. 

FIFTEENTH DAY OF THE SEVENTH MONTH SABBATH. 

Levit. xxiii. 33-35, 38, 39. 

TWENTY-SECOND DAY OF THE SEVENTH MONTH 
SABBATH. 

Levit. xxiii. 33, 34, 36, 38, 39. 

YEAR OF JUBILEE. 

Levit. XXV. 8-17. 

SABBATHS REFERRED TO INDISCRIMINATELY. 

Levit. xxvi. 2, 34, 34, 35, 43. 
2 Kings iv. 23. 

1 Chron. xxiii. 31. 

2 Chron. ii. 4; viii. 13; xxxi. 3; xxxvi. 21, 21. 
Neh. X. 33. 

Is. i. 13; Ixvi. 23. 
Lam. i. 7 ; ii. 6. 

Ezek. xxii. 8, 26; xxiii. 38; xliv. 24; xlv. 17; 
xlvi. 3. 

Hos. ii. 11. 



1 00 CONCORDANCE. 

TEN WORDS^ OR COMMANDMENTS. 

Ex. XX. 1-17; xxiv. 12; xxv. 16; xxxi. ]( 
xxxii. 15, 16; xxxiv. 1-4, 27-29. 

Deut.iv. 13; ix. 9-11, 15, 17; x. 1-5. 

SINAIC COVENANT. 

Ex. xxxi. 16; xxxiv. 10, 27. 
Levit. xxiv. 8; xxvi. 44-46. 
Deut. iv. 13, 23; v. 1-3; ix. 9-11, 15. 

1 Kings viii. 9, 21. 

2 Kings xxii. 8-20 ; xxiii. 1-3. 
2 Chron. v. 10; vi. 11. 

Jer. xxxi. 32. 

FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK. 

Matt, xxviii. 1. 
Mark xvi. 2, 9. 
Luke xxiv. 1. 
John XX. 1, 19. 
Acts XX. 7. 
1 Cor. xvi. 2. 



lord's day. 



i 



Rev. i. 10. 



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